Key holder



April 1955 R. w. NICHOLS 2,706,902

KEY HOLDER Filed Oct. 30, 1950 United States Patent KEY HOLDER Richard William Nichols, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application October 30, 1950, Serial No. 192,989

3 Claims. (Cl. 70-456) The object of the invention is to provide a novel, low cos key holder for the give-away and/or advertising tra e.

A further object in a device of the character contemplated resides in the incorporation therein of certain minor tools complementary with the key holder as a means to advance the general usefulness thereof.

Another object of the invention resides in the inclusion of novel means to disengage one end of one side of the holder with respect to the remainder thereof to the end that keys may be added thereto and removed therefrom as desired.

A novel provision of the invention resides in the inclusion of free spacers adapted and arranged to hold the sides of the item in proper alignment pending inclusion or placement of a key in the place and stead thereof.

The aforementioned and other objects, features and advantages thereof may be noted from a study of the ac companying drawing, the specification and the subjoined claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side-elevational view of the device of this invention; and,

Figure 2 is a top-plan view thereof with a portion in section showing some of the accessories in extended position; while,

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3, Figure 2.

Fig. 4 is an end view of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of arrows 4-4,

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken along line 5-5 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 7 is an end view of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of arrows 7-7,

Figure 8 is an enlarged detailed view showing the means used to free one of the sides of the device to enable keys to be added or removed from their support pin;

Figure 9 is a view taken along line 99, Figure 8, adapted to show the mode of clearance of the head of the key support pin within the aperture in one side of the device, the head of the pin being normally in over-hanging engagement therewith; and,

Figure 10 is a fragmental view of the whole showing the relationship between the oif-set apertures in the flexible tab portion of the body of the holder.

The article comprising the present invention is a novelty holder adapted and arranged to detachably support keys and the like in its one end, and is permanently provided with certain minor tools, such as a nail file and utility blade operably positioned in the other of the ends thereof, although it is to be understood that such minor tools may be of different form than those now shown associated with the article, or selectively, they may be accessories having different functional utility, depending upon the nature of the merchandising trade, service, business or profession, that the article is to be disposed of The article 10 comprises an elongated and relatively narrow moulded and/ or die stamped body 12 having oppositely disposed paired sides 14 and 16 and a bottom side 18. Each end of the article and the top thereof are open. However, it is to be noted that in the key supporting end of the article the bottom side 18 is shorter than the related side-wall portions 14 and 16, thereby freeing the side-Wall portions 14a and 16a for limited lat- 2,706,902 Patented Apr. 26, 1955 "ice eral movement by warping as will hereinafter be more particularly referred to, and as is shown in the drawing at 1411.

In one end of the article I assemble one or more tools such as a nail file 20 and a utility blade 22 upon a pin 24 the ends of which are upset to overhang the sides 14 and 16 to prevent lateral shifting thereof. Spacers 26 may be positioned upon the pin and so disposed with respect to the tools as to prevent shifting thereof and to 0 aid in aligned support thereof upon the pin. Each of the tools 20-22 or other tool regardless of its nature is formed with a circular end 27 having a radius equal to one half of the depth of the channel C thereby enabling the tool to be rotated with respect to this end upon the pin to and from opened and/ or closed position.

It is to be noted that the aperture 21 in the tools through which the pin extends is formed as an elongated slot adapted and arranged to permit of an amount of longitudinal movement of the tools in and out of the related end of the body of the holder which fact enables the tools to be held against rotational movement toward closed position when applied to work. In the full line position shown in Figure 3 the blade 22 is held in extended position by the forward edge or lip 28 of the part 18 against moving in the direction of the arrow D, but is free to be lifted in the direction of the arrow U for sheathing in the channel C in the body 12. When the blade is in extended position as shown in Figure 3 and is then subsequently slid inwardly on the pin 24 to the limit of movement permitted by the slot 21, it will be found that the blade is in the position indicated by dotted lines 22a and when in this position the fulcrum point of the blade upon the pin 24 has shifted so that it is held against rotation in the direction of the arrow D by the lip 28 as aforementioned and is held against movement of the direction of the arrow U by pressure of the heel of the blade on the part 18 at or near point 18a.

The other end of the holder is adapted and arranged to detachably support one or more keys 30 therein. Accordingly and to this end, I form apertures 32 and 34 in the flexible side wall portions 16a and 14a. The aperture 32 being smaller in diameter than the aperture 34 and the center axes of each thereof are off-set with respecggo one another as shown by line X and Y in Figure A key support pin 36 having a spindle 36a is placed with the spindle 36a in the aperture 32 with the shank of the pin extending across the channel C and is fixedly secured therein by being upset to form the head 36b. The other end of the pin is provided with an annular groove 360 formed between the preformed head 38 and the shank of the pin. The head 38 is of smaller diameter than the diameter of the aperture 34 so that it may be moved therethrough as will hereinafter be described. When in normal-use position the longitudinal axis of the pin 36 coincides with the center axis of the aperture 32 and when thus positioned the related surface of the annular groove 36c bears upon the right side-surface of the aperture 34 when viewed as shown in Figure 9 and the related lip or edge of the head 38 over-hangs the adjacent surface of the side-wall 14a in latch-like manner and when so disposed, the head 38 and the shoulder 32c on the pin function to hold the side wall portions 1411-1641 in uniformly spaced relationship. However, the guage of the material forming the side-walls 14-16 is such as to enable it to be forcibly sprung in sufiicient degree that the shank of the pin and its head may be medially aligned with the aperture 34 so that the wall portion 144: is released and'may be sprung outwardly, see dotted line 14b in Fig. 8, in clearance of the head 38 to enable keys to be placed upon the pin or removed therefrom by insertion of the pin through a key ring aperture 30a therein. Initial release of the latched engagement of the pin and the wall portion 14a is effected as above outlined. After placing a key upon the pin, subsequent release thereof is obtained by pressing the free end of the key upon and laterally of the axis of the pin, the key serving the function of a lever, While rigidly supporting the body of the holder. This action places sufficient pressure upon the shank of the pin to effect a Warping of wall portion 16a to permit medial alignment of the pin with the aperture 34 so that the head of the pin is moved from latch-like engagement with the wall portion 14a and through the aperture 34 for placing and removal of keys on the pin.

Having thus described my invention in its presently preferred form, that which I believe to be novel and for which I seek Letters Patent is as follows:

1. In a key holder, a channeled body having a bottom side and paired vertically disposed side-walls integral with said bottom side, the side-walls at one of the ends of said body extending beyond the bottom side so as to form free extensions thereof, said free extensions being formed with apertures of unequal diameter and each thereof being off-set with respect to a medial horizontal line passing through either thereof, a pin fixedly secured in the smaller aperture and extending across said channeled body with the free end thereof extending through said larger aperture, the free end of said pin being formed with a head adapted to over-hang a sector of the sidewall of said larger aperture whereby the free side-wall extensions of said body are normally held against lateral spreading, said pin being releasable from the greater of said apertures by application of pressure thereon so as to force the head thereof into medial alignment with said greater aperture whereby said head is removed from overhanging engagement with said sector of the side-wall of said greater aperture.

2. The structure defined in claim 1, in which said sidewalls are flexible so that upon being flexed said pin is alignable with the medial axis of the greater aperture whereby upon relative movement between the head of the pin and said greater aperture release of the pin may be had precedent to placing a key thereon.

3. In a key holder having a pair of spaced flexible sidewalls adapted and arranged to sheath keys therebetween, a releasable pin for support of said keys, said pin being fixedly secured at one end to one of said side-walls and having a flanged head upon its other end adjacent the other of the side-walls, said last side-wall being provided with an aperture in medial ofi-set relationship to the 1ongitudinal axis of said pin and being adapted to receive therethrough said flanged head, the flange of the head of said pin and the sidewall having said aperture being in releasable latch-like engagement with the pin upon insertion of the head of the pin through the aperture.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 148,421 Dance Mar. 10, 1874 1,649,402 Gildemeister Nov. 15, 1927 1,665,096 Holmes Apr. 3, 1928 1,679,274 Settle July 31, 1928 1,909,735 Vavrosky May 16, 1933 1,939,023 Pritchard Dec. 12, 1933 2,589,571 Queen Mar. 18, 1952 

